Diagonals and Leads
by TizElfinMagic
Summary: Sam starts taking jumping lessons at a new stable in Darton.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ok, this is my first ever FanFic so please be nice. Read and Review. In the story Sam is taking English lessons at a new barn in Darton. I don't own any of the normal PS character I do however, own anyone and everyone at Star Creek Stable. I also don't own Dazzle or any other horse from the Thoroughbred Series that I happen to use.**

Chapter 1

Sam Forster couldn't wait. She sat fidgeting in her dad's car he drove towards Darton Nevada. It had taken two months of constant pestering and 3 weeks of saving her allowance, but she had finally convinced her father that she was mature enough to take English riding lessons at a new riding stable in town.

When she had told her friends Jen Kenworthy had been excited saying that it sounded fun, Jake Ely on the other hand had grunted and given her a look that said something like 'Why would you want to do that?'. She had ignored him.

"If you don't want to do this you can back out anytime." Her dad said snapping her back into the present; he hated the idea of his cowgirl daughter learning how to jump at some snooty stable.

"If I didn't want to do this I wouldn't have sunk three weeks worth of allowance into a block of lessons." Sam didn't mean to sound short tempered but she was sick of hearing that. She had only ridden English twice, when she was in Sa Francisco living with her aunt after her accident, and had never had enough guts to go faster than a walk. Other than that she had always ridden Western usually on her little Mustang cow pony Ace.

"Don't bite my head off Sam or I'll turn this car right around!" Dad snapped

"I'm sorry I was short, but I want to learn to jump, and it's not like I'll be riding Ace, this instructor will give me one of her horses to ride in lessons." Which was true, a week ago when Sam had talked to Kelsi, the instructor, she had apparently already picked out the horse that Sam would ride, she had said that for their first lesson everyone rode one of four horses. But she had also explained to not get attached because you would only ride that horse once or twice before moving to the horse you would ride for the rest of your lessons.

"Hmm." Was the only response she got.

When they finally arrived the first thing they say was a sign that announced "STAR CREEK STABLES" and showed a picture of a horse jumping a big oxer.

"Too fancy for my taste." Dad mumbled under his breath hoping that his daughter didn't hear him. Although he hated that she would be riding here he hadn't seen her this excited over anything in a long time. But she had heard him and ignored it.

As they drove down the grey gravel driveway they saw a girl cantering a big black horse over a 2 foot cross-rail fence. The horse was gorgeous, total black not a speck of white on her; she had long legs that were powerful enough to catapult a thousand pounds of horse over a 2 foot jump.

Dad parked near the bigger of the two barns and climbed out, Sam followed him and they entered the barn.

There were horses everywhere. Some alone in there stalls, some being groomed in cross ties and even a few getting bathed.

"Where are we supposed to meet this Kelsi?" Dad asked looking out of place and sounding as if he wanted to get this whole ordeal with as quickly as possible.

"She said in Tack Room 2 over the phone" Sam answered. Where was this Tack Room 2 anyway?

"Are you one of Kelsi's new students?" Sam turned around and saw the girl who was riding the big black mare earlier walking toward them, horse right behind her.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Sam answered

"You and you dad were looking a little lost, I'll show you where she is."

"Oh no, take care of your horse just point us in the right direction." Sam said trying to be polite.

"It's no problem; Dazzle's stall is right next to the tack room I'm headed in that direction any way."

"Ok," Sam said following the girl, Dad following close behind.

They walked down the main aisle of the barn until they had nearly reached the end.

"It's right there," the girl said pointing to her right. "My name is Dylan by the way, and your name is…"

"Samantha, I go by Sam."

"Nice to meet you Sam."

Dylan led Dazzle into a stall two doors down from the door she had said was the tack room.

Just then a woman came out of Tack Room 2.

"Samantha Forster, are you ready to meet your horse?"

**Um...yeah...okay so i tried to post this storie probably about a year ago and it didnt really work that well so hopefully now it will...im not making any promises...Anyway, either if you like it or didnt, id like to know why or why not and suggestions are welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Fifteen minutes later Sam though her instructor was crazy. Kelsi expected her to ride a 28yr. old Thoroughbred in a lesson. 28 was not normal for a horse, it was out right creepy to think any horse that old could even still stand. But Kelsi insisted that Bert, whose full name was Bold Burst, was in perfect health and the best jumper she had ever ridden. Bert was a giant at least 17 hands tall. Kelsi helped her saddle and bridle him, then told Sam to follow her to one of the arenas. When they got there Sam had no idea how she was supposed to get on this Giant Oldie who towered over her, half asleep.

"Okay, take your stirrups down, check your girth and then lead him up to the mounting block." Kelsi instructed Sam.

She did as she was told and when she got to the last part of what Kelsi said she stopped. What was a mounting block, and where was it? Sam looked around the arena. In one corner several poles were stacked against the wall, in another there were jump standards and in the middle there was an odd looking step stool. That had to be a mounting block right? How else would someone get on to a giant like Bert? So, Sam led him over and stopped. She took a deep breath, climbed to the top of the mounting block, put weight in her left stirrup, and swung onto Bert's back. The moment she had settled in the deep seat of the All-Purpose saddle, Bert strode off at an energetic walk.

"Okay, I want you to walk him around the entire arena at a walk for about 5 minutes, okay; you see how his head moves forward when he walks?"

Sam nodded.

"Good, every time his head moves forward you need to give him some rein, follow his head with your hands, and pick up the slack in your reins; you should be able to feel his mouth at the end of your reins."

It was a lot of information to take in at once but Sam tried her best to do what Kelsi said, when she collected her reins a little bit Bert lowered his head a little, giving into his bit. When she followed his head she didn't feel like she was jerking on his mouth.

"Good, now you are going to try a posting trot. Collect your reins more and squeeze with your inside leg."

She did as she was told and Bert took off at a bouncy trot. Sam was having trouble sitting to his gait but tried.

"Alright, look at his shoulders and watch for when his outside shoulder comes forward. When it does you need to come up out of your saddle."

Sam kept watching for it. But she always came up too late and came up when the inside shoulder was forward.

"Okay, keep going like that and when you get to the end of the arena sit two beats and continue posting."

In four strides Bert was at the end of the long side of the arena. Sam sat two beats and kept posting.

"Now, look and see if you are on the correct diagonal."

Sam looked at Bert's massive shoulders. When she came up, his outside shoulder came forward. She was on the right diagonal.

"Are you correct?" Kelsi asked, checking if she understood why she needed to look down.

"Yes, I'm on the right diagonal." Sam replied proud of herself for learning a new skill.

Sam had kept the right diagonal one whole circuit. When Kelsi called out, "Okay, when you get to E cross the arena and head to B then take a left, like you're cutting the arena in half."

Sam did as she was told, but as soon as Bert crossed the center of the arena, he slowed back to a walk.

"Keep him at a trot!, don't let him slack off," Kelsi said from the ground, "He knows that that's where you get off so hes gonna try to convince you its time for him to be done working."

Sam squeezed the big thoroughbreds sides with her legs and after a large sigh he moved back into a trot. Sam turned to the left and as she rounded the short end of the arena, Kelsi again told her what she was to do next.

"Now, when you reach E, take a right."

Sam did as she was told. By this time Bert was foaming lightly and his breathing had accelerated. It was then when Kelsi told her to slow to a walk to cool him out. As they slowly walked around the arena, Bert put his head down as far as Sam could allow him to without dropping the thin laced reins that she held. This first lesson had gone exceptionally well, she had pretty much understood everything and she though she had done quite well. While she was reflecting, Kelsi's voice snapped her out of it.

"Bring him into the middle and dismount. Take him back into the barn, cross tie him outside his stall then put hims away."

**Okay, so again, review and let me know what you think.**

**~TizElfinMagic~**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much for the reviews!!! In response to a few of them, I do remember Sam riding English in the Gift Horse, but since it was an isolated incident, im not really counting it. And, im basing a lot of these experiences off of stuff that's happened to me at my barn, so yes, Jake will be teasing her. No this will not be a Sake story, i personally hate Sake stories. I have guy friends who ride and i defiantly have no desire to be with them, and supposedly they've know each other forever and i think it would be creepy being in a romantic relationship with someone who literally knows everything about you...Anyhoo, thanks so much, and keep reviewing!!! I like knowing how the stoy is to the people who take the time to read it!!! **

**Chapter 3**

After Sam had untacked and brushed Bert, she walked out of his stall, lated the door behind her and walked out of the barn. It was 3:20, her lesson had ended at 3:00 but Dad wasn't there to pick her up yet. She was about to turn back to the barn when a truck and trailer turned into the driveway. The truck was bright red, the small bumper-pull trailer was a spotless white; Riverbend had a trailer the same exact size and style, but some how this one still managed to look a heck of a lot nicer than any other one horse trailer Sam had ever seen.

Just then Kelsi and another woman came out of the barn. They were talking about the new horse, the one, Sam decided, that was in the trailer.

"I heard he came in 4th at Spruce Meadows."

"No, he was the stablemate of the horse who came in fourth at Spruce Meadows."

"Ah, that explains why he ended up in Reno, I'm pretty sure that horse was there."

By this time the van had stopped and the women were approaching it. A man and a girl about Sam's age got out of the car and began to open the door of the trailer. After that they lowered the ramp. Sam noticed that Dylan and a few of the other lessons students were watching from the barn aisle, so instead of looking like an idiot standing in the middle of the driveway Sam went over to stand with them as they watched. When she got over there Dylan was talking to another girl.

"I heard hes some Quarter Horse cross or something weird like that. Why would you buy a Quarter Horse for jumping stable, I've met one QH who could jump, and he had mega psychiatric issues. Hopefully these people will come to their senses and re-sell him as another companion horse or something..."

Sam was taken aback by Dylan's tone. It sounded like she was implying that Quarter horses were good for nothing psychos. It was totally untrue, look at all the Quarter Horses Riverbend and Three Ponies ranches had had. They were smart levelheaded animals that were completely devoted to their owners. Sam felt a little betrayed by the girl who she thought she could have been friends with.

As the other girls were talking the man from the truck had backed the horse down the ramp. He was a gorgeous cinnamon color, he had a stripe running down his face and one white sock on his left front leg. If he really was a Quarter Horse, no one had ever told him, he wasn't the least bit stocky, he was probably about 16.2 or 16.3 hands and was lanky. He also didn't act like the Quarter Horses Sam had know. He was skittering around and toe dancing at the end of hos lead. He wore a brown leather halter with a chain over his nose. Every time he would begin to side-step the man holding the lead would snap it down on the poor horses nose to get him to calm down. It would work only to get the horses attention back on the guy leading, but not two seconds later he'd begin to get antsy and again he'd have the chain come down with a snap on his nose.

Kelsi and the other woman approached the man and horse and talked with him for about five minutes before leading the horse closer into the barn. When they were about twenty feet away, they turned and started to head towards the indoor arena.

"Girls, if you wanna watch when we put him in the arena you can, but just remember the rules okay?" the other woman said.

All the girls including Sam followed the three people and the skittish horse to the ring. As they got closer, the girls began to head to the side of the building, not sure what was going on, Sam followed them. When they reached the side of the building they climbed a set of steps. At the top of the steps was a door, whoever was in front opened it and they all filtered into a relatively small room. One wall of the room was completly glass, it looked over the massive indoor ring. Sam had never seen such a nice arena. The footing of the indoor ring at Star Creek was a perfect tan sand. Sam had seen an ad in a magazine for sand installation, it was $50,000 dollars. There were also wooden poles and standards stacked up against the opposite end of the arena. With the regular jumps there was also a pile of what looked like red bricks, and two blue tarps. The ring was, right now, lighted by the sun, the roof was made out of stuff that looked similar to the material greenhouses were made out of, but lights lined the cieling.

The girls had settled into the observation room, but the chestnut horse was still down there, after a few seconds the man unbuckled the horses halter and the horse took off. He bolted around as fast as the confined space would allow him. At first Sam thought the horse was just trying to escape, but after several laps around the horse slowed to an energetic trot, then to a halt. He pawed then sniffed the ground, the he promptly let out a sigh and rolled in the sand. He heaved himself up and again began to runn around, this time throwing in a buck or two. When he again slowed, Kelsi was there with a longe whip in hand to get him running again, she snapped it in the sand just once and the horse reacted by again bolting around the arena. Sam didn't understand. What they were doing was almost like how she had gentled her colt, but not really. Jake never would have let her use a whip to get Blackie to run around. Heck, Jake probably would let her use a whip period, no matter the horse. And, if this horse had been around top notch show horses, why would he need to be broken? Wouldn't he already be at least trained? The horse in the arena had slowed to a canter, he was breathing heavily and foaming slightly. Kelsi dropped the whip and when the horse had halted, the man who had delivered him re-haltered him and handed the lead to the women who was with Kelsi.

Then, the door to the observation room opened. In the doorway stood Dad. Sam shot up from her seat and walked as quickly as she could to him. Together they walked back down the stairs and accross the yard to Dad's truck. It was total silence in the truck for the first 25 minutes of the drive back home.

"I don't apprieate waiting on you Samantha." Dad said harshly.

"I know, I'm sorry but there was this new horse and people said stuff about him and i wanted to see if they were true and.....yeah...." that was the best Sam could come up with.

"You should have seen how this guy was treating him! Every time the horse got antsy or anything, the guy leading him around would snap this stud chain down on his poor little nose!"

Dad didn't have a response, so Sam stopped talking. When they got to River Bend Ace ws waiting at the gate of the pasture pressing his chest against it, as if he thought that his small 500 pounds could knock the whole fence over if he tried hard enough. _There's no way it'll happen little guy. _Sam thought. CLUNCK THUD CRASH. The gate decided to give way anyway. Proud of his accomplishment the little mustang trotted right up to the passenger side of Dad's truck. Dad just sighed.

"Ace, buddy, that's not something to be proud of." Sam reprimanded the little horse.

"After you reattach that bolt, take him out." is all Dad said before heading into the house.

Sighing, Sam walked into the barn, knowing Ace would follow her, to put him in an empty stall temporarily. After Ace was in the stall Sam set to work on the gate. It didn't take long, only 20 minutes. After that she ran into the house to call Jen. They had planned on meeting up a little later, but Sam wanted to tell her about Star Creek and the lesson. After the third ring, Jen's mom answered the phone.

"Hi, Mrs. Kenworthy, is Jen there?"

"Yes, Samantha, she is, I'll go get her."

"Hello?" Jen's voice came over the phone.

"Hi, Jen you wanna meet a littler earlier than we planned?"

"Yeah, sure give me fifteen minutes to get Silly ready then we'll meet at the lake at War Drum Flats."

"Alright, I'll see you there."

**Okay, so i would have extended this to include the ride, but it was getting a little bit lengthy, and it adds incentive for you guys to review. What do you think of the new Mystery Horse at the stable??? I am actually going to base him off of one (maybe two) horses at my barn, so yeah. Sorry if the Quarter Horse bashing hurt some feelings out there, but i cant stand themas a breed. Every single one i've ever know or ridden has had major issues...BONUS: What is your favorite equestrian sport and why??? If you tell me yours, i'll tell you mine!!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so for the last chapter there were positive and negative comments. To the negative ones, if you think my story is dumb, dont read it, and if its is really that dumb why take the time to review to tell me that you want read it any more? I'm not saying that negative comments/reviews are bad, but if you're gonna post one at least put in some constructive criticism in there so i know what i can change ir something. To the positive peoples out there, Thanks sooo much for them!!! You Rock!!! And especially to Karsey and quarterhorseranch who have left several nice reviews each, and to quarterhorseranch, the Jackson you were talking about sounds exactly like my friends QH. Hes like 16.2 hands, bright chestnut, bites, tries to buck (he doesn't really understand how), refuses and runs out at jumps, kicks and bites at every horse who gets within 15 feet of him to the point where people are like "Oh, whats your mares name?" and We're like "Um, he's a boy....." and pulls back against a tied lead rope. Yeah, hes pretty much as bad as can get but the sad part is...I've seen worse...Anyhoo, thank you again to everyone who reviewed and please keep doing so!!!**

**Chapter 4**

Sam rode Ace at an easy lope. After a few short minutes in the saddle she had completely forgotten the lesson. Despite having energy Ace was fairly well behaved. While riding Ace Sam didnt have to worry about what diagonal she was one, or what letter to turn at next and what diretion to go after that. It was a little relieving, not have to worry about the technical stuff and just be able to ride. As Ace settled down Sam turned her attention to the mountains, scanning them for any small flicker of silver that might indicate that the Phantom was up there. Today though, there was nothing and as Sam approached War Drum Flats, she was Jen and her mare waiting for them. When she saw then Silly's head shot up and she trumpeted a high pitched Winnie. Jen just rolled her eyes.

"Hi," Sam said a little breathless from the ride.

"Hi, how was the lesson at the new place?" Jen replied.

"Pretty good, I rode this massive ancient thoroughbred."

"Why didn't they put you on a more advanced horse? It's not like you've never been in the saddle before."

"I was kind of wondering that too, I mean I told her I'd ridden English a few times, but then again I'm kinda glad that she gave me Bert, he's really push button."

"His name is Bert?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Is there an Ernie there too?"

"Jen, I thought you said it was cool that I started taking these lessons." Sam was once again feeling betrayed.

"I do think it's cool, they just need to learn how to give their horses better names."

"Yeah, well after my lesson there was a new horse dropped off. He was gorgeous, people were saying that he was a Quarter Horse, but if he is, hes one of those lanky running Quarter Horses. They let him out in the arena and he, like, full out bolted around that place like he was trying to escape, I couldn't blame him, i don't think the place where he came from was very gentle with him..." Sam trailed off thinking about how the man with the horse would use the chain on his nose.

"Well, then it's a good thing he got away from them," Jen told her.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." If the horse had been in a bad situation he would no be at a home that could help him get over any issues that he had developed.

"Okay, well, no that that is out of the way," Jen said, "can we actually go for a ride now?"

"Of course."

With that Jen wheeled Silly around and they took off at a gallop, Ace and Sam were quick to follow their lead.

* * *

By the time Sam got back home, the sky was a light shade of purple. Twilight, that meant that dinner was probably nearly done. Sam hurried through the task of unsaddling Ace and putting him back into the pasture with the other horses. After that she walked into the house to be greeted with the aroma of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. Gram was setting the table and Brynna was washing her hands at the kitchen sink.

"Hello dear," Gram said "can you help me by finishing this while I check on the beans?"

"Sure," Sam said. She actually didn't mind helping with the menial jobs in the kitchen.

About five minutes later dinner was on the table and everyone was seated.

"How was your first lesson today, Sam" Brynna asked.

Wow, Dad hadn't even asked her that, Sam also realized that the only person who she had told about the lesson was Jen.

"It was great, Kelsi put me on a really old horse, but he was really well behaved, his name is Bert." Sam answered.

"Did you do any jumping?" it was Gram asking the question this time.

"No, she just had me going flat work."

"Why are you paying good money to learn to jump and you aren't even learning how to do that?" Dad finally spoke.

"It's my money and i can spend it in what ever why I want to!" Sam snapped back at him.

"What your tone Sam," Brynna interrupted.

"Sorry, but I've been riding for one day, Dad, you saw the horses in the ring with the jumps, I don't think any first timer would be able to pull that off."

Dad didn't reply.

"So, tell me more about the horse you rose today." Brynna continued to try to make the dinner conversation pleasant.

"He was huge, like maybe almost 17 hands, he's really lanky. Kelsi, my instructor said that when he was younger he used to race in California."

"She put you on a racehorse???" Dad, had once again jumped to conclusions.

"He's been retired off the track for over twenty years, Dad." Sam came to Kelsi's defence, "Bert is one of the calmest horses I've ever seen, he's also about as push button as they come.

"Wyatt, please give Sam a chance to tell all of us how her day went," Gram gently told her son.

"Anyway, I learned how to post and change diagonals today, I don't know what she'll have me do next week though."

"It sounds like you had a lot of fun today," Gram told her.

"That's not all, after my lesson there was a horse that was delivered, you should have seen him, he was really tall, but still had some muscle to him, people were saying that he was a Quarter Horse, but he wasn't stocky at all. Jen and i think he must have come from a mean owner by how he was being treated and how he acted."

"Jen was at the stable with you?" Brynna looked thoroughly confused.

"Oh, no, I told her about him during our ride."

"Well, Sam, it's getting rather late, have you finished your homework yet?"

"Um, no..." Sam had been hoping that they would forget about her school work.

"Well, we can clear the table, you go get started."

Sam grudgingly walked up to her room where Euclid, and Watson and Crick were waiting to torture her.

She started with her Biology. They began DNA replication and RNA transcription on Friday. It was fairly easy but she kept flipping what transcription and translation were and what they did to the polypeptide chain. She fought her way through he difficult problems, then went on the do the short vocab assignment that would be due tomorrow. After Bio came Geometry. Oh, joy. She looked at the first problem.

_Find the volume and surface area of each figure with the given dimensions:_

_Sphere: r=5_

_Cone: r=4  
h=6_

_Pyramid: b=2  
h=3_

_Cylinder: b=4  
h=2_

They kept going on like that, it would have helped if the book had thrown in a picture or diagram, but at least she still had the formula sheet. She finished with her math and moved on to Language Arts. They were reading various short stories by Hawthorne, not exactly light reading. Today it was "Rappaccini's Daugter" the thing was almost a novel! She probably could have read some of it on Saturday, but she hadn't really felt like tackling it, so now she would pay the price. The story took her over an hour to read, by the time she finished, she barely had time to shower and get ready for bed. She jumped into the shower and quickly changed for bed. She eventually did get to bed, only a half an hour later than her usual time. She hadn't noticed how tired she actually was until she was in bed and under her covers. She fell asleep shortly after her head hit the pillow.

**Okay, so what did you think good?, bad?, okay? (remember the key to the 'bad' part is that you offer constructive criticism). I am very aware that this chapter (to me at least) was like oober boring, but i like to tell myself that its important. Also, with the school week coming up i wont be able to update everyday, but I'll try to update at least once on the weekends, and during winter break. So, i promised that if you guys told me your favorite horsey sport I'd tell you mine, well it's Racing. I absolutely love horse racing. Every Summer i go to the local track with my dad and friends from my stable to watch them. What's really cool is when we get there early enough to see the Quarter Horse races. I don't really like them, but dang can they run........and for all the race haters out there (i know they're out there) I'll respect your views if you respect mine, ok? So with that BONUS: Rachel Alexandra or Zenyatta for Horse of the Year? If you have no clue who either of them are, look them up and tell me which one you think is better. Again, if you tell me, I'll tell you my choice and why. Keep the reviews coming, i like hearing from the people who take the time to read. Oh, and I'm sorry if I missed any Spelling/puntuation/grammar mistakes.**

**~Tizelfinmagic~**


	5. Chapter 5

**I AM SO SORRY!!! The reason i haven't been able to update in weeks is because a few days after Christmas my laptop was having issues so we took into Geek Squad and they said the Mother borad was frid. It would have taken $700 and over a month to fix it. So, we orderd a new computer, and the old one was still semi funtional until about two weeks ago, thats when i found out that they reason the mother board was toast was that we had a nasty virus on it...BUT we jsut got the new computer today and it works wonderfully and now i can go back to writing!!! Woot woot!!!**

**~tizelfinmagic~**

**Chapter 5**

As Sam was walking home from school, she kept her eyes on the range, looking for signs of the Phantom, his herd, or any Mustang. After ten minutes of walking toward home, she saw them. They were navigating a narrow trail out of the mountains. It wasn't the Phantoms herd, it was much too small, but Sam would take what she got. She stopped to watch them. In the front of the herd was a big black mare, followed by a bay, a chestnut, and a pinto. The smaller of the chestnuts must be the lead mare, Sam thought, she was nipping and herding the other three mares. Farther behind the chestnuts was the stallion. He was large for a mustang, maybe sixteen hands, he was stocky, almost built like a tank. He had a beautiful coat, painted brown and black on white. He had a wide perfect diamond on his forehead. As the herd hit the flat ground at the foot of the mountains, the lead mare continued her herding with renewed vigor. As the herd moved on, the stallion didn't immediately follow, he slowed to a trotted, gave Sam one glance, then loped away, following the rest of his small herd.

Sam continued her walk home with the painted stallion on her mind. Something about him didn't sit right in her mind. She couldn't figure out why. He seemed like a normal mustang. maybe a little unobservant or stupid, letting his mares that close to a person. Still, through the rest of the day she couldn't push the horse out of her mind. When she rode out to meet Jen, she scanned the mountains again, looking for her own horse as well as the big paint and his herd. When she met up with Jen, she told her about the horses.

"I don't know why he made me all edgey, but he did, and I don't like it," Sam admitted to her friend.

"Hm, did he have any of the Phantoms mares or something?"

"No, I haven't seen any of them before," Sam ran through the mares again, a black, a bay, a chestnut, and a paint. They were all different colors, and sizes, the paint mare was almost as big as the stallion, but the bay was slight and dainty.

"That's a little odd, usually when you see new stallions they're just bachelors, but this paint seems to be fairly well established," Jen said, she was obviously wondering where the horse came from as well. "You should tell Brynna about him, just so she knows about him."

"I was planning on it when she got home, but she was late and we still had to ride so, I'll have to wait until dinner."

By this time the sun was setting and Sam and Jen went their seperate ways.

* * *

When Sam reached the River Bend bridge she was exhausted. Worrying over the new mustangs and the fact that she hadn't seen the Phantom in weeks was making her edgier by the minute.

What if that paint had pushed the Phantom out of the area? Sure, the Phantom was a good fighter, but that huge paint had to be at least a full hand bigger than him, had he was heavier too. Sam took a deep breath and told her self that she was being ridiculous, the Phantom was safe up in his valley with his mares and little babies, the new paint had nothing to do with the fact that she hadn't seen him recently.

She unsaddled Ace, brushed him then put him back out with the rest of the horses. She stood there for a minute watching them. Ever since Sunny had escaped and re-joined the Phantom's herd, Ace had seemed a little lost, especially since Sweetheart was in town working with the handicapped kids. She had hoped that him and Popcorn would strike up a little friendship, but neither was too intersted in the other.

Sighing, Sam shook her head and turned towards the house. Dinner was fried chicken, beets, and salad. For desert Gram had made pecan pie. It was delicous. It was in the middle of desert that Sam brought up the pianted stallion and his herd.

"I dunno, but it seemed like he didn't really belong out there, something just seemed off..." Sam told Brynna.

"What made you think that?" was the reply she got. Why was it that whenever she had a feeling about the mustangs Brynna never jsut trusted her?

"He seemed way too casual about everything, he had his mares like right next to me and Ace and he didn't even think twice about it! Isn't that kind of odd, even the Phantom won't always let his mares that close to me."

Brynna raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Sam, maybe you're over reacting about this new horse," Gram said gently, "Maybe hes just young and new to having a large herd of his own to handle."

"I guess that could have been it, but I still don't like him."

"I'll keep a look out for him at work okay?" Brynna was getting really condescending again, Sam hated when she did that.

"Fine, but let me know if you do ear anything." Sam replied.

Everyone at the table looked a little confused at her abrupt change in mood.

Changing the subject, Gram asked "So, Sam you have your second riding lesson tomorrow, are you escited?"

With an exasperated sigh Dad stood up, put his plate by the sink and waked out of the room.

"Yes Gram, Kelsi said that I'd start cavaletti work tomorrow, I don't know what that is but it shouldn't be too hard.

* * *

When Sam got to the barn on Saturday, she didn't see Dylan riding Holiday like she had last week. Instead she saw Kelsi and a group of girls standing around the farrier as he worked on a horses feet.

"He'll be fine in a week or two Kels, we've been down this road countless times with this horse, he's always just fine." The farrier said.

"I know, but I've got a girl set to ride him today and I don't have a back up plan..."

Thats when Sam realized that the horse they were working on was Bert. As one of the lessons students led him off back to the barn, Sam noticed he was limping rather badly on his front left leg, hoof rather, since that had been the one the farrier was talking about.

"Just keep it soaking twice a day with the epsom salts, about twenty minutes each time. If it doesn;t improve in two weeks I'll be back to see what else I can do for him." the ferrier sad, shaking his head.

_Who am i going to ride in the lesson? Bert clearly is out of commission for a while..._Sam kept wondering this question as she approached the barn.

"Hey, Sam I think I'm gonna have you ride Snickers in your lessons today, Bert pulled up with an abbess this morning." Kelsi told her.

"IS he gonna be ok?" Sam asked, concerned for the frail old horse.

He'll be back up and running in two weeks tops. He gets them all the time." Kelsi acted as if it were no big deal. He got them all the time? Weren;t they taking care of him? If he had bad feet wouldn't they keep him on a regular farrier schedule?

"Snickers is out right now, have one of the girls show you where he is and we'll get started in fifteen minutes.

**Ok, so I would have made it longer, but i've had the beginning of this chapter stuck in my head since the middle of December and i wanted to get it posted. My updates are probably still gonna be kinda random cause I don't know what weekends I'm working, so, yeah. Review, please again, be constructive, if you hated tell me more about why, i _know that it isnt as exciting as some of you guys want it to be, now tell me exactly what you want to see happen to amke it more exciting. _And thank you for all the wonderful reviews from the last chapter!!! OH!!! And my pick for Horse of the Year is Rachel Alexandra because: She faced males her own age, and won on all occasions, beating the Kentucky Derby Winner Mine That Bird twice and Belmont winner Summer Bird once. She faced older males, was forced to set a super fast pace, and still had something left to fight off Macho Again, who can close like nobodys business. She was way more dominant against females than Zenyatta ever was, Zenyatta never opened up a twenty length lead on any of her compitiion, Rachel has done so several times. Rachel Alexandra's owners are smart about how she runs, they didn;t send her to the Breeders Cup because she had already given them an amazing season and they thought she deserved a vacation. Where as Zenyatta is officailly retired but was out on the track earlier this week working out...So, yeah Rachel Alexanra for Horse of the Year. The winners of the Eclipse Awards are gonna be annouced on the 18th, hopefully I'll have more posted by then, but no promises...BONUS: Whats you favorite desert?**

**~tizelfinmagic~**

**Super sorry if there's typos, im super tired and i think i got most, if not all of them....**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you all so much for the lovely reveiws!!! Keep them coming!!!**

**Chapter 6**

Sam and Dylan walked out to the pasture together to catch Snickers. The fact that everyone had reacted to Bert's injury so casually was still on her mind. She decided that now was as good of a time as she would get to ask Kelsi about it.

"Um, not to sound rude or anything," Sam started, "But, don't you take care of the horses when they're hurt?"

"I'm not sure what you're asking about, but when ever one of the horses gets hurt we do everything we can to get him healed; as well as take every precaution to prevent injury to them," Dylan stated, sounding a little put off by Sam's question.

"Well, if you take every precaution, how come Bert got an abscess?"

"He's abscessed at least once a year ever since Heather first bought him over twenty years ago. You said you live on a ranch with horses, you have to have noticed how some horses are predisposed to some things, like, lets say you have a horse who bowed a tendon when he was 4. The chances of that injury reoccurring or flaring up again are pretty high because the tendon was damaged. The same goes for Bert. No one knows why, but he has very thin soles that are easliy penetrated, which will lead to an abscess. It's no big deal, we've dealt with hundreds of abscesses. Its when they develop laminitis or break something when you should worry."

By the end of Dylan's speech, Sam's head was spinning. She had never heard anyone talk that much at one time other than teachers or at clinics. It made sense, what Kelsi had said, about injuries popping up again.

"Isn't there anything you could do to prevent it from happening?"

"We tried putting a pads between his soles and shoes, but they aren't really meant for long time use."

"Oh,"

"Alright, where the heck did that dumb little horse go?" Dylan was scanning the pasture. Sam assumed she was looking for Snickers.

"What do you mean by 'dumb'?" Sam asked, getting nervous.

"Snickers isn't exactly the brightest bulb when it comes to being turned out."

"Oh, um, alright then." Sam remembered an article in one of the magazines she had at home saying how many show horses don't know how to behave in a paddock after they've been off the circuit because they're entire lives they've been shut up in stalls and trailers their entire lives.

"Did he ever show?" Sam asked, wanting to know whether or not she would be dealing with one of those cases.

"Not that I'm aware of. The people who sold him to us used him more as a pasture ornament than anything else."

By that time Dylan had spotted another group of horses. They were tall, sleek and athletic looking. All of them would have made nice 'pasture ornaments' as Dylan had called them. All but one at least, as the horses moved around, trying to find the best grass possible without moving too far away, a tiny little pony was exposed. He looked to be even smaller than Ace, who was small at only 14 hands. He was the only horse wearing a blanket. From his ears to his tail he was covered in a heavy duty sheet. He looked out of place and awkward among the now giant looking horses. That was Snickers. Dylan walked right up to him, haltered him and led him over to Sam.

Up close, he was only probably a half a hand shorter than Ace, but still. He was brown with a flaxen forelock, and assumingly mane and tail. As Sam led him back through the pasture he began whinnying for his herd. Some of them raised their heads, and then went back to eating. But one horse, a big warmblood from the looks of him whinnied back and proceded to follow them all the way back to the gate.

"Take Snickers to one of the outside cross-ties, I'll take care of Jake." Dylan said.

"Um, who's Jake?" Sam asked her. She knew where the cross ties were, she'd seen them the week before.

"The big bay idiot who decided he should be Velcroed to Snickers today, he has a tendency to push past people when they're opening the gate, and he's horrible to try and catch once hes out."

"Yeah, my horse at home also has been known to get out too."

Dylan cut her off quickly, "Sam, I don't wanna sound short, but you have like ten minutes to get ready for your lesson. I'm willing to help you but we need to get out of this pasture first."

Sam quickly turned to the gate and opened it. Thats when Jake decided that he should take his chance. He pushed his chest against Snicker's rear end, and squealing Snickers tried to get out of the pasture. Dylan started shoving the big horse's rib cage as hard as she could, repeatedly; she forced him to side step about five feet to the left, which gave Sam enough time to lead Snickers through and get the gate closed. When Dylan saw that Sam and gotten through she picked up the small lunge whip that was laying near the gate and snapped it at Jake, forcing him to spin in the other direction and bolt back to the other horses.

As they made their way over to the cross ties, Dylan split off to get Snickers grooming kit. Sam clipped the cross ties to the sides of Snickers halter, and let him sniff her hands and introduce himself.

"We're gonna get along just fine aren't we?" Sam asked the little horse. He just kept investigating her for food. in less then a minute Dylan came back rolling a saddle rack with her. On the rack was a saddle, bridle, an extra girth, and the grooming kit.

"Why did you take his stuff off?" Dylan asked as she began undoing the buckles on the neck piece of Snickers blanket.

"Um, I don't really know how." Sam admitted.

"Well, next time, just unbuckle and unclip everything and then put it on the rack attached to his stall, I'll show you where it is later." Dylan already had the entire sheet off. Snickers really was a cute little pony. His coat was a beautiful cocoa color, that shone with dapples in the sunlight.

"Just go over him with a body brush and pick his feet. Then we'll put his stuff on." Dylan demanded. Sam was both annoyed and appreciative of her at the same time. If it hadn't been for Dylan, Sam wouldn't have found Snickers in the pasture, Jake would have gotten out, and she would have been late to the lesson. The saddle that Dylan had placed on Snickers back was glaringly different than the one Bert had worn the week before. Bert's saddle had had a deep seat with long saddle flaps and a high pommel. Snickers' saddle had almost no seat, the flaps were placed very far forward, and it had a whither pad attached to it. The small change had Sam very nervous. She had gotten used to the comfort of and predictability that Bert seemed to carry along with him, and now that she had to get on a completely different horse, Sam was down right terrified. Dylan handed her the bridle and began folding up Snickers' blanket and putting it on the saddle rack. Sam took a deep breath and unbuckled Snickers' halter and refastened it around his neck. The pony took the bit fairly well, and it wasn't until Sam had to buckle the nose band that she had trouble. The caveson had two pieces to it. The top band was slightly thicker, and lay on his nose above the bit, and the second piece was thinner and looked like it would fit beneath the bit.

"Um, Dylan, how do I get the nose band on?" Sam asked, not wanting to furthur delay the lesson by standing there and wondering.

"It just buckles underneath, like that," Dylan said, demonstrating by doing for her.

"Thanks so much for helping me get ready, Dylan."

"It's no probablem, we've all been the new person at the barn at some point, and it's easier when you have help."

* * *

When Sam led Snickers into the arena, Kelsi had set up several small jumps. The poles were maybe nine inches off the ground and instead of regular standards, they rested betweeen small X-frames.

"Alright Sam, before we start with the cavalettis, let's review last week. Mount up, and let's go" Kelsi was still no nonsence in the arena.

Sam rolled her stirrups down and mounted Snickers from the ground. As they began to make a circuit of the arena, Sam noticed thatshe was slipping forward in her saddle. She pushed herself back intp the proper position and continued walking. Things only got worse when Kelsi asked her to pick up a trot. Snickers short, brisk stride didn't help her stay centered. To compensate, she put her legs further out in front of her.

"Stop, right now!" Kelsi snapped at her. Sam slowed Snickers down and walked over to where Kelsi was standing.

"Do you know why i had you stop?" Kelsi asked. Sam hated it when people did that, they tell you you're doing something wrong and then ask you about it instead of telling you how to fix it.

"Um, the posting?" Sam guessed

"Yeah, you had your feet stuck out by his shoulders, you need to keep your feet in the right place, or you'll be dumped at every fence you try to jump. So, I'm going to shorten your stirrups and you're going to do that again. Okay?"

"Yeah." At least she was giving her a second chance.

After her stirrups had been shortened Sam started out trotting around the arena again. The saddle still made it uncomfortable, but she managed to keep her feet in the correct position.

"Sit a beat! You're on the wrong diagonal!" Kelsi shouted. Sam sat a beat and kept going. "Again, sit!" How had she ended up on the wrong diagonal so quickly? She sat once and continued posting to Snickers short gait. And, not thirty seconds later, Kelsi was telling her again to fix her diagonal. "Up, down, up, down, up, come on Sam, you can do this, keep track in you head, up, down, up, down, up, down!" So, Sam tried it, sitting a beat didn't work, so she began to chant to herself 'up, down, up, down,'. It worked.

"Okay, Sam, now I want you to raise into a two-point. Just bring your behind out of you saddle and lean a little bet forward, but not too much, or hes liable to take off with you." As Sam stood in her stirrups, Kelsi began to correct her, "Sam, you still need to have bend in your knees! Start posting again and start up again when you get to the long end of the arena."

Sam took a deep breath and began to post, Kelsi watching her intently. When she reached the long end of the arena, she rose slightly in her stirrups, and leaned forward jsut barely.

"There! Right there! Memorize how that feels, you'll be using it every time you have lesson!!!" Kelsi was shouting, clearly happy that Sam had picked it up fairly quickly. "Alright, now, when you get to A, turn down the center and go over the Cavalettis. As Sam turned Snickers down the center of the arena, he began moving forward at an even faster trot. His ears were pricked straight, and he was anticipating the fast approaching jump. When they were about twenty feet from the jump, Kelsi said, "Okay, now when you're about six feet from the jump, your gonna want to kiss to him to get him to go over it with out tripping over it or knocking it over. Do it before each one."

As Sam absorbed the information, she kept Snickers moving at a trot in a straight line towards the line of jumps. When they were six feet from the first one, Sam kissed to the little pony. He raised off the ground easily, the jump was short, but for that tiny second, it felt as though she were flying. Not literally, the tiny cavaletti poles weren't high enough to get that feeling, but she felt as though she had accomplished something huge. As She and Snickers trotted towards that second set of poles, Sam kissed to him again, and again he was the perfect gentleman, and lifted over it with out a fuss. The third one was no different.

That day, after her lesson, Dad was on time picking her up, and she didn't stop smiling all the way home

**Wow, longest chapter so far, i think...Okay, so what do you think? I personally hated the way it ended, but every other idea i thought of was worse and i got oober frustrated and just stuck it in there. So, I'd like to have your guys's thoughts on it, good or bad. If bad again, please be constructive. Also, again, sorry if there are typos, i also realized, that last chapter i decided to put semi colons in for apostrophes...sorry...RACHEL ALEXANDRA WON HORSE OF THE YEAR!!! WOOT WOOT!!! Hee hee, i had to put that in there...hm...my favorite desert would have to be the chocolate cake at Key's Cafe. BONUS: Whats your favorite horse breed?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ok, so, here goes. This will be the first chapter with Jake in it, so those of you Jake fanatics should be happy. BUT, the reason he hasnt been here much is cause i feel incredibly akward when i write dialog for his character, i dont know why, i just do. So, in other words if Jake sucks, i apologize in advance. Another thing, I cant write more with the Chestnut QH until i have a name for him, so, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me ideas!!! I got a few, but id like more options before i choose one for good.  
**

**Please, as always tell me what you think. Good, Bad, but as always, be constructive when criticizing.**

Half way into the week, on Wednesday, Dad announced that he, Gram, and Brynna would be taking her to her lesson that weekend, and would stay to watch it. Sam was ecstatic, finally her family would see everything that she had worked so hard on. Her excitement only grew when Gram asked Sam if Jen would want to go with as well. Sam called her best friend right away.

"OF COURSE I WANT TO SEE YOU RIDE!!!!!!!!!" Jen's voice came screeching over the phone.

"Great, I'm so excited that everyone will get to see my lesson, I just hope nothing happens..."

"You're a fine rider, quit-" Jen broke off suddenly, "wait, you said everyone, is Jake going to be there too, because I don't think I'd be able to handle that much of him all in one day...."

"No," Sam said, "He hasn't been invited, I doubt he'd want to go anyway. I think he's Anglo-phobic..."

After they hung up, Sam got started on her homework. She decided to start with Chemistry. They had begun balancing earlier that week.

Na + Cl2 --- ___________

K2SO4 --- __________

Cd + F--- _______

After looking at the rest of the problems on the worksheet, Sam decided she would move on to history, she had a test coming up the following week on the Pre-Napoleonic era of the French Revolution. She began working on the tedious task of placing 50 people, places, events and groups into chronological order. When she had finished with that, she had to read "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe was not one of her favorite writers. He focused too much on slowly and painfully killing his character. This story was no different. She quit reading when the narrator stopped to listen to Fortunato scream and beg for mercy. When Sam was finally finished with her homework, she showered, packed her backpack and went to bed.

* * *

Jen was not pleased. It was Saturday, and Dad, Brynna, Gram, Sam, Jen, and Jake were all on their way to Star Creek to watch Sam's lesson. Jake wasn't supposed to be there, at least that's what Sam kept telling herself. It had happened the day before, when Jake had come over to help Dad with some of the stock, Gram had told him about the lesson, and, of course, invited him along. Whether or not he truly wanted to be there was still unknown, but Sam thought that the main reason he agreed to come with was because he never passed up on a chance to see Sam uncomfortable.

When they arrived at the stable, several of the girls were standing along the rails of one of the outdoor rings, watching a familiar big black horse navigate a small jumping course. Dylan was riding Dazzle at a massive double oxer which was probably about 3 and a half feet, if not more, tall. As they approached, Dazzle's head came up and her ears went forward. The last few strides before the jump, she took three large accentuated strides, then, at the exact right moment, Dylan gave her the cue, and they were flying through the air.

"Wow..." Jen was impressed, Sam thought, no one in her family, including herself, had ever seen a horse jump a fence like that.

Jake grunted, unimpressed and bored, from what Sam could tell from his expression.

"Why did you even come if you're just going to be grumpy and antisocial?" Sam asked him, annoyed already. At least she would get some separation from him during the lesson.

That is when the girls at the fence noticed him. When Sam saw Jake she thought '_annoying idiot' _when those girls saw him, they thought _'Hot Cowboy'_. Fortunately, none of them were bold enough to actually introduce themselves.

Sam went into the barn to look for Kelsi, she was in the stall of another school horse with another student. The horses name was CheeChee. She was an Appaloosa with a molted blanket pattern, not the prettiest horse on the farm, but sweet, gentle, and one of the best hunt seat equitation horses.

"Hi, um, Kelsi, who am I riding today?" Sam asked politely. However, Kelsi kept talking to the girl about CheeChee's new bit.

"Ok, so Amber, I'm gonna have you try a hackamore on her, if she keeps dragging you around, let me know and we'll have to find something else. I'm not sure what else we'll be able to do, we've tried every bit know to man, every combination of every training technique, and I just don't know anymore. But, tell me how the Hackamore, and if it doesn't work, we'll go back to the French Twist D ring, I think."

"Kelsi, I'm here for my lesson, who am I riding?"

"Oh, Sam I didn't see you there, um, catch Snickers again, and we're gonna be integrating you into a group today."

Sam was a little scared that she would be riding in a group lesson, where almost everyone else will have had much more experience than she had.

"Oh, and Jake is inside, so you don't have to worry about him giving you trouble. You're family can wait in the observation area, or if they want they really want to they can watch you tack up Snickers..."

Dad, Gram, Brynna and Jake went to the ring to wait for the lesson to start, Jen decided to stay with Sam. Sam went out to the pasture, and just like Kelsi had said, Jake was nowhere in sight. SAm caught Snickers and made her way back to the barn. She cross-tied him outside his stall. She took off his sheet, went over him with a body brush, and went, with Jen following, to get his tack. Once they got to the tack room, Jen said, "Wow, I didn't really expect to see that here...." in the bottom of one of the racks was sitting a mahogany brown western saddle. Sam was wondering the same thing, then she remembered the chestnut from two weeks ago. Maybe he was trained western instead of English, and that was way everyone here hated him so much. Sam felt sick all of a sudden, if the people here hated horses that were ridden western, how would they treat her if they ever found out that she lived on a working cattle ranch? Shaking her head, Sam quickly grabbed Snickers saddle and bridle and headed out of the tack room.

After Snickers was saddled, Jen left her to join Dad and the rest of them. When Sam was alone, she realized several other people heading toward the arena where she was going to have her lesson, her anxienty returned as she lead Snickers forward and followed the rest of the group.

**Ok, so again it's really short but i figured that a short chapter is better than nothing right??? Anyhoo, tell me what you think. I still need name ideas for the chestnut QH**, **or he might end up staying Chestnut QH throughout the story....Ah, yes, my bonus question from the last chapter was favorite breed right??? Well, for me its a tie between the Anglo-Arabian and the Thoroughbred, because my horse is an Anglo, and I've been in love with a TB jumper at my barn since before i even rode English...Yeah, i learned something odd today, i was riding around, and i learned that my horse neck reins, i was a little wierded out by it cause hes never ridden western in his whole 26 years of existence....Anyway BONUS FOR THIS CHAPTER IS: Whats the best book you've ever read??? (excluding series books). Also, if you want a reading recomendation, a while ago i got "Broken: A Love Story" by Lisa Jones, its was amazing!!! EXTRA BONUS: Do you like Edgar Allen Poe??? And kudos to you if you can balance the chem. equations at the beginning of this chapter.**

**~TEM~  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**So, how many of you have given up on this story just because im really slow to update? Again, im so sorry about the wait but im in the process of finding a new barn to take lessons at cause the one im at now has gone down the tubes so horribly in the last year or so, and im sick of dealing with it. So, anyway, now as im up at midnight watching Toddlers and Tiaras (those moms are PSYCHO!) and mindlessly listening to Owl City, I decided its time to start writing a new chapter. So, again let me know what you think, but please be nice...Oh, so i was really bored earlier today nad was looking through adoptable horses on a rescues website, and one was named Apache's Hot Shot, and i started freakin out a little bit...IMPORTANT: I changed the rating to T, im sick of tiptoeing around swear words, sorry if that type of stuff offends anyone...  
**

As Sam and Snickers entered the arena, Sam noticed just how large the indoor ring really was. At one half of the arena, there were 5 other horses warming up. Sam hadn't met any of the other girls who would be riding with her in the lesson. She had been hoping that Dylan would be there, but she had no such luck. The other horses were all working at a trot, however one horse, a big black and white paint, was crow hopping and trying to get his head down. Sam didn't like the look of it, the girl just sat deeper and ignored the behavior**. **Sam quickly led Snickers over to the mounting block in the center of the arena, rolled down, adjusted her stirrups**, **and mounted. As she began walking Snickers around the arena, Sam continued to watch the black paint. He hadnt calmed down at all, his rider was still trotting circles with him and still hadnt addressed his state of mind. When Sam asked Snickers for a trot, he threw his head and pinned his ears. He hadnt behaved like that last week, but then last week he hadnt had to share the arena. She asked him once again for a trot, and she got the same responce.

"Sam, when he does that smack him and tell him to knock it off, he knows better than that." Kelsi's voice rang out from the opposite end of the ring where she was setting up a series of small jumps.

Sam nodded. She asked him for a trot one more time, when his head flew up, Sam smacked his shoulder and told him to shut up. Snickers snorted and then picked up a trot. As the warm up time began to run short, the others girls lined up at the empty end of the arena. Kelsi stepped forward and began to tell the group what they would be working on that day.

"Okay, so all of you have been riding long enough to begin some actual jumping. These jumps are small, but do not underestimate how your horse will react to them. I've seem horses jump three feet over a pole that was six inches off the ground, but step leg by leg over e two foot fence. Just remember, keep your heels down, do not drop your reins, and try not to bail. Okay, so what i want you guys to do is start with the set of cavalettis, the just go along in the line. Heidi, you go first."

A girl on a little arabian mare moved forward.

"Okay, I want you guys to approach at a trot, then after the 2 cavalettis, move into a left lead canter." The mare made it over the cavalettis perfectly, once she was past the last one, the girl, Heidi, asked her for a canter, the mare kept trotting, as they approched the fence, the girl turned away, circled and tried it again. This time, when they finished with the cavalettis, the girl jabbed the mare with her outside spur, and the mare picked up a canter without a problem. As they cantered toward the first jump, the mares ears perked forward and the girl gathered more rein. as they got closer, Kelsi called out, "Three, Two, One." At one, the mare popped her front legs over the jump, landed and continued to canter on to the next jump. The rest of the small course wen the same way for the pair.

When the girl went back into the line up, Kelsi addressed the entire group, "So, Heidi and Elham, thier first time through, had to circle, now in a lesson its ok, but in a competition it would waste time and in some cases can get you penalties. So, Heidi, if she continues to give you trouble with that left lead, I'd start carrying a crop. Okay, so, who wants to go next?"

A girl riding a bay morgan volunteered. As they made their way through the cavalettis, they horse was fine, but when they approached the actual jumps for the first time, the horse, instead of jumping, picked up each foot daintily to avoid touching the rails, and placed it just as carefully on the other side of the jump. Kelsi had them re-do the course, but told the girl to use more leg to get his momentum moving forward, and up to get over the fences properly. When they too had returned to the line, Kelsi told Sam that it was her turn. Sam tried not to think about her entire family and friends watching her as she rode, but it was hard. She kept imagining Dad's snide remarks over the last few weeks, and began to get nervous.

"Sam, take a deep breath, calm down, and you'll be fine. Snickers has seen these types of jumps many times, you guys will be fine." Sam took Kelsi's advice and then began trotting towards the set of cavalettis. Snickers made it through them fine, but the moment he was the fences, he took off for them. Sam sat back, recollected him and circled. She shortened her reins over the cavelettis, in case he reacted the sme way as before. He did, and she was ready for it. Snickers only got two strides away from her until she had him back uner control. As the cantered toward the first jump, Snickers' ears were moving back na dforth, listening to her and anticipating the jump. Kelsi counted their strides for them, and when she got to one, Sam leaned forward, gave with her hands, and squeezed gently with her legs. Snickers popped over the tiny jump without a problem. The rest of the jumps in the small course went the same way without any more incidents.

As Sam moved back into the line, the girl on the black and white paint moved forward.

"Okay, so has Clay ever been over jumps before, Becca?" Kelsi asked the girl.

"Um, probably not, we got him from a guy who trained reining horses..." The girl sounded unsure. If the horse was trained to compete in reining, what the hell was her doing here? He belonged at a working ranch, not a jumping stable.

"How long have you been working him under an English saddle?" Kelsi asked the girl.

"About two weeks now, I just wanna see what he'll do at jumps, I'm not expecting perfection." Sam was angry, just two weeks ago, that girl might have been one of the group who was picking at the new Quarter Horse, and now shes riding a reining horse, in a jumping lesson none the less. Sam couldnt believe it, the poor horse had no clue what to do now, he had been plucked away from his normal environmet and shoved into this one. No wonder he was freaking out earlier.

"Um, Ok, Becca skip over the cavalettis with him, just go through the rest of the course. Do what you have to to get him through. He'll be fine with these little ones." Was Kelsi crazy? The horse had never done any of this before, and she completely disregaured his behavior before.

As the pair approached the first fence the horse was moving sideways. When they came to the fence, he stopped, looked at it and put his head down to investigate it. Becca allowed him to do it and, hesitantly, he stepped over it. At the next fence he walked over it without a thought, however, at the third, she asked him to trot over it. He might have been fine, if his rear leggs hadnt knocked the pole out of place. When he heard the pole land with a thump directly behind him, he bolted. The girl snatched at her reins and began shout "Whoa" at him. that only caused the horse to run faster. He began bucking, after a short while, he reared, and with that, Becca began to fall. However, only one foot had gotten free from her stirrups. When Clay came back down he continued his running, dragging the girl along beside him. Becca was in a bad place, as Clay began to charge towards the Cavalettis, he showed no signs of slowing. Only when he crashed through them, did Becca's foot come out of her saddle. As she lay there, her horse continued to run along the parimiter of the arena, and several people began to try to slow him down, and keep him away from the rest of the group. When Sam looked back to Becca, she still hadnt gotten up, and Kelsi was dialing 911.

**Ok, so again its kinda short, but i dont have the patience to sit and type forever. So, what did all you guys think? The whole chick getting dragged was semi inspired by a lady at may barn who's QH reared and flipped over on her a few weeks ago, she ended up breaking her pelvis, but damn it was scary driving in and seeing an ambulance and sheriff's car parked in the drive way...So, again just let me know what you think, its gonna be a while before the next update cause i dont know whats gonna happen next (completely). So, my favorite book I have ever read is definatly The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. And I LOVE Edgar Allen Poe, Annabel Lea is the most beautiful piece of American literature ever written, look it up, its amazing.**

**Bonus: Whats your favorite breed stereotype, that you think is completely false, and please back it up 'Just cause' doesn't work for me...**

**Extra Bonus: Whats your TV guilty pleasure?**

**So, Im just gonna tell you mine now, cause if i dont i wont remember what i asked...My favorite breed steryotype (I have 2) is A.) That Quater Horses are the most amazing smart, sweet horses on the planet. Well, none of the ones i know are any of those. I've seen Dumb, Dopey and Dangerous in, quite literally, every freaking one ive ever known. And yet, my instructor still swears by them...and my second one, TBs are crazy hyper and useless if they're off the track. Totally false, all the OTTBs I know are extremely sweet, all three that ive ridden were rescues, one was slaughter bound, the other was so angry at his owner that he had developed ulcers and was gonn abe put down and the other one (who Bert is based off of) was found half dead in a field and lived until he was 37ish. They all have/had amazing manners, and love being around people. So, there ya have it.**

**My TV guilty pleasure would have to be a tie between Toddlers and Tiaras, and those Hoarding documentaries...I dunno why but seeing how weird other people can be makes me feel more normal...I know im really weird and kinda cruel, but at least im honest...  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Again, I'm uber late at updating. Sorry. One major thing, I havent been getting as many reviews as I would like to see, I do allow anonymous reviews, so none of you have an excuse...So, just let me know what you think, but be civil. And the QH finally has a name...read the chapter to find out.**

**Chapter 9  
**

As Kelsi was on the phone with 911, Clay, the Paint horse Becca had been riding came to a stop, in the far corner of the arena. His sides were heaving and his eyes were rolling white, Sam wanted to go over and comfort him, but Heather was in the area now, and she grabbed the paint and lead him out of the arena. By then, Kelsi had gotten off the phone with the emergency operator, she was still next to Becca, who still hadn't gotten up. When the ambulance finally arrived, the put Becca on a stretcher with a back board and neck brace. Sam was scared for her, she knew the feeling of being shipped of to the hospital after a riding accident, and it wasn't bringing back pleasant memories. When Kelsi left with Becca in the ambulance, Sam wondered what was going to happen with the lesson, however, less than a minute after Kelsi and Becca left, Heather came into the arena leading the chestnut Quarter Horse. Sam smiled, the horse looked alert and excited to be ridden.

"Alright girls, I want you in a single file line, going at the jumps at a rising trot. I want Don in front, followed by Elham, Snickers, Deego, and then Shasta. Watch Snickers Jess, he kicks," Heather said as she mounted. Sam noticed that the chestnut wasn't going to stand still**, **he was constantly fidgeting, side stepping and throwing his head. As the bay Morgan began the start of their line, Sam fell in after the Arabian mare. As they trotted toward the set up, the Arab had no trouble going over it, and neither did anyone else. Sam thought that everyone had done fine, however as the last horse made it over the last small fence, Heather began to coach.

"Okay, on Deego, you need to keep your heels down! If they're like that over bigger jumps, you'll fly right over his head! And on Snickers, your heels are ok, but going over those jumps, you need to psch your leg way farther forward, they are slipping back and that's a bad habit to start. Give Shasta a half halt over the cavalettis, she needs to bring herself up underneath you more."

Sam didn't like how the lesson was progressing, Kelsi gave everyone individual attention, whereas Heather clumped them all together and expected perfection. As Sam started stressing, Snickers mood began to change too, he began pinning his ears at the horse be hind him and pulling the reins through Sam's hands. When they went through the course for a third time, Heather called out, "On Snickers, your reins are too tight, and you're gripping with your legs, you need to slow down, give him some rein, take your leg off his side and take a deep breath, if you keep doing that he will dump you faster then you ever believed possible." Sam was mortified that Heather had called her out in front of everyone, and two seconds after the words were out of Heathers mouth, Snickers exploded. He up his head straight to the ground and bucked as hard as he could, he squealed and twisted as Sam tried to pull his head up. Once Sam had finally stopped Snickers impromptu rodeo, the rest of the class had stopped and were staring.

"Ok, everyone, I think that's enough for this week, I think we have had enough. Put your horses away then come back here, I want you guys to watch Booker while I work with him." With that, Heather dismissed the class. All the riders dismounted and lead the horses back to the barn. Heather stayed in the arena with the chestnut quarter horse and started riding him at a working trot. As Sam was leading Snickers back to his stall, she saw her family, Jake, and Jen walking toward her. All of them, with the exception of Jake, looked worried. When they made it over to her, Jen was the first to speak, "Oh my God, Sam are you ok?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine, I'm not the one that was taken by ambulance to the hospital..." Sam's mind started to drift to Becca and she began to wonder how bad her injuries were.

"We were all so worried about you, when this little guy gave you trouble," Gram said, motioning toward Snickers, was trying to pull Sam in the direction of the barn.

"What I can't understand, is why you squeezed him harder, right after your instructor told you to relax." Sam just glared at Jake, he wouldn't have liked it much either if someone like Heather started criticizing how he rode. So, Sam just lead Snickers back to his stall and cross tied him. She took off his tack and put it away, while she was brushing him, she heard a couple of the other girls talking, "Becca's gonna be ok, her brother just texted me, she has a mild concussion some bruised ribs, but she will be able to ride in four weeks."

"Thats good, but who's gonna work Psycho? There's no way in hell I'm getting on him after the incident today, and if any of you do, I'll be sure to go to your funeral"

As Sam continued to eavesdrop, she noticed they were being especially judgmental of the paint, he was new to all this and still learning. And then, Sam really started thinking, the paint was usually ridden western before he was bought by Becca, So, why couldn't Dad, or Jen or Jake, or anyone work with him over then next few weeks, to settle him down and get him used to being here and going over small jumps and stuff.

After Sam put Snickers away, she headed back to the arena to watch Heather and Booker. When she sat down in the observation area, she saw that Heather had raised the jumps to about three and a half feet in height, and Dylan was on the ground in the arena with her. As Heather picked a canter, she took Booker over several smaller fences first, then pointed him at the larger ones. When they approached the larger fences, he became animated, his ears cam up and he looked happy. Heather and Booker flew around the area, over oxers, and verticals, and even a small brick wall. However, when Heather pointed Booker at a liverpool, his eyes went white and he bolted, Heather pulled him up, circled and approached again, the second time the horse refused, he planted his feet and Sam could tell that he wasn't going to get any where near the fence. As Heather kicked him and tried to move him forward, but he started moving backwards. When this started happening, Dylan cam over, calmed Booker down, then, to Sam's astonishment, she put spurs on Heather, and gave her a crop. Sam couldn't believe it Booker was terrified of the fence, and now they were going to force him into jumping it. As Heather picked up a canter, Sam just watched. She was silently hoping that Booker wouldn't take kindly to the spurs or crop, but she didn't really want Heather to be hurt either. When they approached the liverpool, Sam saw Heather give Booker a small tap several strides before the jump, and he reacted by throwing his head in the air, in response Heather jabbed him once with the spurs, and then yelled at him. Sam was mortified, however she realized that after Heather had scolded him, he amazingly jumped the liverpool without a problem.

As Heather continued working with Booker, Sam's mind wondered back to Becca's Paint. He was a gorgeous horse, but high strung, so Jen could work with him, since Silly was also flighty. And Jake had no issues with any horse regardless of its attitude or disposition. Now, Sam just had to talk to Kelsi about it. Hopefully she would be back by the time Heather was done with Booker. The other girls from the lesson were picking apart Booker's form now, and how he would never make it in open jumper classes because blah blah blah and so on. Sam had had enough, so once she saw that Heather had dismounted, she got up to go search for Kelsi. Thankfully, Kelsi was back, and had a dappled gray Thoroughbred in cross ties and was grooming him.

"Um, hi Kelsi," Sam started, she wasn't sure how to bring up the subject of having someone Kelsi or Becca really knew coming in the work the Paint.

"Oh, Hi Sam, what's up?" Kelsi seemed to be in a good mood, which made this much easier on Sam.

"Oh, um, well I was thinking about Becca and her horse after the accident and stuff, and well I think I might have an idea to help calm him down so he isn;t so crazy the next time she rides him..."

"Oh, well, Sam that's very nice of you, but that really isn't up to me, Mr. Rayton would have to ok anything, and at this point he is probably just going to sell the horse and buy another one for his daughter."

"But, I was just thinking, I have this friend, he's really good with horses and he might be able to work with Becca's horse, and maybe calm him down a little bit, so that way Becca would get to keep him, and her dad wouldn't have to go through they hassle of finding him a new home and then having to find a new horse on top of that."

"Sam, I can tell that you really do have Becca and Clay's best interest in mind, but it isn't my decision as to whether or not the Rayton's want to keep or sell him. Becca picked him out and loves him, but he might be too much horse for her, and if he is, then every time she tries to ride him, she will be risking herself, and the lives of everyone else in the arena with her. Just think of what could have happened in the lesson today if Clay had gotten so scared he had run another horse and rider over? And if that had happened and the other rider had gotten seriously hurt, it would probably be advised that the Rayton's put him down."

"I know that, but my friend is amazing with horses, he works with stock like Clay all the time at our ranch back home, and he has made marshmallows out of the most out of control, meanest horses on the planet, and if Clay needs help, wouldn't Mr. Rayton want to get him help instead of losing money on him by selling him or putting him to sleep."

"Alright Sam, I'll tell Mr. Rayton that there may be someone willing to work with Clay, in the meantime, I'm going to need to meet this friend of yours and decide myself if it would work well with Clay, alright?"

"Thank you so much Kelsi, and I promise it will work out well," Sam said, "Oh! And my friend is here, you can talk to him now, if you want." The moment the words were out of Sam's mouth she immediately regretted them, she hadn't even told Jake about her plan yet, and why didn't she mention Jen to Kelsi, Jen was a lot nicer than Jake, and probably wouldn't have any problem with Clay.

"Oh, well if he's here I have a few minutes to spare, introduce me."

"Uh, um, oh, er ok, um, I'll go find my family..." Sam was in a panic as she left the barn to find Jake and her family, and Jen. When she saw them waiting for her by the car, she took a deep breath, and just came out and asked, "Jake, how do you feel about making some extra money?"

**Alrighty, so there you guys have it, another very late chapter. Hopefully I made things a little more interesting for you guys. So yeah, let me know what you guys think, I like reviews and again (as far as I know...) i do accept anonymous reviews, so yeah, jsut let me know, and as always if you didn't like it, be constructive.  
**

**BONUS: How did you get interested in horses?**

**EXTRA BONUS: Whats your favorite color?**

**~TEM~  
**


	10. Sad Day

**I'm quitting. I don't know if or when I will be able to continue this story. The barn which almost all of the events in this story are based, is shutting down in less than a month. I don't know what is going to happen to the horses and other animals there. I'm trying to buy the horse I've been leasing, but don't know if I can afford to keep him. All my friends are moving to different barns to board, so my entire group is being split up. I've been crying nonstop for almost 2 days now. I really do hope that everything turns out fine, because (Even though I hardly ever updated) I did enjoy writing this story, but can't stand to think about it until my life has stabilized again.**

**TizElfinMagic  
**


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